Free GroomWise℠ Blog Terms of Use & Privacy Policy Notice Agreement
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REVISED 10/31/09

When you formally request a free blog by filling out a request form, you will be asked to agree to the agreement on this page. If you have any questions we are pleased to answer them by sending an email to findagroomer@earthlink.net or you may call and arrange a time to talk with Stephen, GroomWise℠ Webmaster at 800-556-5131 or 360-446-5348 for those outside the U.S.

Free GroomWise℠ Blog Terms of Use & Privacy Policy Agreement

This Agreement is made with Find A Groomer Inc. (“Company”), a Nevada corporation with its principal offices in Rainier, WA. The Company has developed expertise and techniques in online publishing of pet care industry information with several popular pet grooming Websites, one of which now offers free GroomWise℠ Blogs to its paid advertising sponsors with a current account, and qualified professional pet care industry writers with mutual interest in the field of pet care.

Terms and Conditions

1. Your Acceptance

A. By using a free GroomWise℠ Blog (collectively, including all content and functionality available through the GroomWise.com domain name, the "GroomWise℠ Website", or "Website"), you signify your agreement to (1) these terms and conditions (the "Terms of Service") and (2) privacy notice, found at http://www.petgroomer.com/mission.htm. If you do not agree to any of these terms please do not use a free GroomWise℠ Blog.

B. Although we may attempt to notify you when major changes are made to these Terms of Service, you should periodically review the most up-to-date version at http://www.petgroomer.com/mission.htm. The Company may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise these Terms of Service and policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to confer any third-party rights or benefits.

C. You agree to inform the Company if you have been previously convicted of one or more misdemeanors or felonies related to your activities of any kind in the pet industry. If you are convicted of one or more misdemeanors or felonies related to your activities in the pet industry after being provided a GroomWise℠ Blog you agree to inform the Company of the conviction(s) as early as possible and not to exceed 30 days wherever possible. Failure to do so may result in immediate termination of your GroomWise℠ Blog once operational, or our refusal to provide one when applying for a GroomWise℠ Blog. The Company reserves the right to terminate your blog based upon the conviction(s).

2. GroomWise.com and GroomWise℠ Blogs

A. These Terms of Service apply to users of the free GroomWise℠ Blogs associated with GroomWise.com (“Website”), one of several interconnected Websites collectively operated as “PetGroomer.com.”

B. Free GroomWise℠ Blogs for non-paid advertising sponsors of PetGroomer.com may contain links to third party websites that are not owned or controlled by the Company usually in the form of Google Adsense advertising which generates modest revenue for the Company to offset the cost of providing free GroomWise℠ Blogs. The Company has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites. In addition, The Company will not and cannot censor or edit the content of any third-party site. Free GroomWise℠ Blogs for paid advertising sponsors of PetGroomer.com have no third party links except for a Google search engine programmed for searching GroomWise.com.

C. You acknowledge the GroomWise℠ Blog service, template design, storage, widgets, distribution and promotion is provided by the Company at no charge to you on a loan basis, and you will act as its Guest Author uploading her content which may include text, software, scripts, graphics, photos, sounds, music, videos, interactive features and the like ("Content") and your trademarks, service marks and logos. You shall receive blog support from the Company’s Administrator assigned to your blog, along with online support of the blog hosting service Typepad.
By using a free GroomWise℠ Blog you expressly relieve the Company from any and all liability arising from the use of any third-party website. Visitors to your free GroomWise℠ Blog and GroomWise.com will be subject to a separate PetGroomer.com and GroomWise.com Terms of Use offering protections without guarantee(s) covering both the Company and you.

3. Typepad Blog Hosting Account

A. In order to access an assigned GroomWise℠ Blog custom-designed for you, you must retrieve an email invitation generated by the Company through Typepad, the blog hosting service, and follow its instructions to create your private Typepad account by providing Typepad with a valid email address and setting a password to which only you are privy. You accept responsibility for the activity that occurs with your Typepad account, and you agree to keep its password secure. You will notify Typepad of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account. You acknowledge that Typepad does not provide the Company access to your Typepad username or password but as the Administrator of the provided assigned Blog may conduct blog administrative duties. After successfully setting up an account with Typepad.com you will have access to your blog through a Typepad interface requiring your login.

B. Although the Company will not be liable for your losses caused by any unauthorized use of your Typepad Account associated with the blog provided by Company, you may be liable for the losses of the Company or others due to such unauthorized use.

4. General Use of Your Blog - Permissions and Restrictions

By your executing and signing this Agreement the Company hereby grants you permission to setup a Guest Author account with Typepad.com which accesses the Company’s blog prepared for your sole use. You may then add Content as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:

A. Content added by you shall relate to pet care industry topics with the following exclusions unless otherwise allowed by express permission of the Company. You cannot post material that is:

inappropriate for children including adult entertainment, adult humor, primarily violent, political, religious, inflammatory, intent on creating division among GroomWise℠ readers or characterized as consumer reporting based on testing and evaluating pet care industry products and services;

B. You agree not to alter or modify any part of your blog template designed to present your content without the express permission of the Company.

C. You agree not to use the assigned your blog for any commercial use, without the prior written authorization of the Company. Prohibited commercial uses include any of the following actions taken without the Company's express approval:

selling or providing at no charge third party advertising in your blog, generating revenue by selling subscriptions to your blog provided by the Company;

E. Prohibited commercial uses of your assigned blog do not include:

making pet care industry product or service recommendations involving third party or your products, displaying a commercial banner on your blog linked to your Website, displaying your business contact information on your blog provided by the Company;

F. You agree not to use any Company's trademarks or service marks in any advertising conducted by you, or in your publications, Websites or promotions without the express written permission of the Company. Further you agree not to make any statement, promotion or advertisement which claims that by being provided a free blog at GroomWise.com the Company, or its sponsors, advertisers, associates, employees or affiliates, are making any form of endorsement of your enterprises, services or products. Endorsements by the Company are only provided in writing on request by an authorized Officer of the Company.

G. You acknowledge that the Company has made no promise to supply or generate any specified amount of minimum or maximum web traffic to the your provided blog, and agrees that the Company is simply offering an Internet link to the your blog at GroomWise.com so long as you maintain this Agreement until terminated by the Company or you. The Company shall submit the your blog URL to at least 10 major Internet search engines at no charge within 30 days of your posting initial Content suitable for search engine indexing. You acknowledge that the Company has made no promise of any success in generating web traffic to your blog by submitting it to Internet search engines. You agree not to submit your to any Internet search engines without the express written permission of the Company in order to maintain proper centralized control of GroomWise.com promotion by the Company, and to avoid negative feedback from Internet search engine providers for duplicate submissions.

H. You are solely responsible for the Content you upload and the consequences of posting or publishing them in your provided blog. In connection with your post submissions, you affirm, represent, and/or warrant that: you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize the Company to use all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all submitted Content to enable inclusion and use of the Content in the manner contemplated by the Company, GroomWise.com and these Terms of Service.

I. You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, "robots," "spiders," or "offline readers," that access GroomWise.com or any of the Company's Websites comprising PetGroomer.com listed at http://www.petgroomer.com/mission.htm.

J. You agree not to post statements or recommendations in your blog that discourage the use of services or products by any pet care industry vendor without the express permission of the Company.

K. Your use of GroomWise.com Website will comply with the terms and conditions of its Terms of Service common to all of its online visitors, and to company with all applicable local, national, and international laws and regulations.

L. The Company reserves the right to discontinue any aspect of the GroomWise.com Website at any time. Whenever possible the Company shall provide you with 30 days notice if it intends to discontinue the GroomWise.com Website. You are requested, but not required, to give the Company 30 days notice if you desire to terminate this Agreement and discontinue the your free blog.

M. You agree to maintain backup copies of all Content you upload to your blog or arrange to be uploaded. The Company hereby notifies you that it does not maintain backup copies of your Content and rather relies on Typepad to maintain occasional backups for which there is no guarantee that Typepad backups will contain your recent uploads or that Typepad backups will be in restorable condition. You agree not upload and post original files and instead makes copies for uploading into Typepad servers for your blog.

N. The Company does not specify a precise amount of time as to how often you must add new Content to your blog. As a guideline the Company asks that you add at least one new post of text article Content every 30 days. If you do not add new content for 60 days the Company may contact you to determine the reason for inactivity. Prolonged periods of inactivity for 90 days or more may result in the Company requiring new Content to be added by you within 10 days of notice, and thereafter if no new text article Content is added, the Company may exercise its right to cancel this Agreement and archive or remove the your blog from GroomWise.com due to prolonged inactivity. Whenever possible you agree to make every attempt to keep the Company informed when you expect a period of inactivity posting to your blog for more than 30 days.

O. You acknowledge that you may be exposed to reader contact from a variety of sources, and that the Company is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such reader contact. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to reader contact and submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby does waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against the Company with respect thereto, and agree to indemnify and hold the Company, its Owners/Operators, affiliates, and/or licensors, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the blog provided to you. You can reduce but not eliminate exposure to reader contact at your blog by not accepting comments on each and every post you upload known using the Typepad interface. You may switch-off the allow comments function using the Typepad posting interface whenever uploading and publishing a post. The Company does not require you to allow commentary and without restriction.

P. The Company expects that your Content will have been previously checked for grammar and spelling correctness before uploading using the Typepad post interface. A spellchecker is provided in the Typepad post interface but not a grammar check function. The Company suggests that you compose posts in a word processor with spelling and grammar checks before uploading them. Published posts that contain poor grammar and spelling may be removed temporarily until you adequately correct spelling and grammar suitable to meet Company standards.

Q. The Company makes no promise to provide visitor statistics in the first 12 months of this Agreement and thereafter will provide monthly visitor stats to you.

P. You acknowledge that the Company makes no guarantee for uptime of the your blog. The Company relies on Typepad to maintain Internet access to GroomWise.com 24/7/365, however temporary Internet and hosting disruptions can and should be expected at times. The Company retains the right to change blog hosting service providers at its discretion without advance notice to you in order to provide quality services to bloggers and readers.

R. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the GroomWise.com Website or your blog and if present, its features preventing or restricting the use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the GroomWise.com Website or the Content therein.

S. For clarity, you retain ownership rights for Content added by you. However, by submitting Content to your blog, you hereby grant the Company a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to display Content within GroomWise.com and PetGroomer.com Websites listed at http://www.petgroomer.com/mission.htm. You also hereby grant the Company and PetGroomer.com Website visitors including GroomWise.com a non-exclusive license to access Content in your blog. You acknowledge that the Company cannot prevent any GroomWise.com and PetGroomer.com Website visitor and blog reader from copying, reproducing, distributing, and displaying any or all of your Content through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service. The Company shall assist you to protect your Content by placing your notice of copyright on all pages of your blog.

T. In connection with uploaded Content, you agree to not submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or has permission from their rightful owner to post the material and to grant the Company all of the license rights granted herein.

U. You further agree not to upload Content that is contrary to the PetGroomer.com Mission Statement http://www.petgroomer.com/mission.htm to promote the professional reputation of the pet grooming industry, and which may be updated from time to time, or contrary to applicable local, national, and international laws and regulations.

V. The Company does not endorse any of your Content, opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and the Company expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with your Content. The Company does not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights in your Content, and the Company will remove all Content if properly notified that such Content infringes on another's intellectual property rights. The Company reserves the right to remove Content without prior notice.

5. Account Termination Policy

A. The Company will terminate your access to your blog, under appropriate circumstances, if you are determined to be a repeat infringer.

B. The Company reserves the right to decide whether content or a post submission is appropriate and complies with these Terms of Service for violations other than copyright infringement, such as, but not limited to, pornography, obscene or defamatory material. The Company may remove such Content and/or terminate a User's access for uploading such material in violation of these Terms of Service at any time, without prior notice and at its sole discretion.

8. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
A. You acknowledge that copyright owners or an agent thereof who believe that any Content in your blog infringes upon their copyrights, they may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by providing the Company’s Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for further detail):

A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site; Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material; Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the copyright claim owner, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail; A statement from the copyright claim owner that they have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the copyright claim owner is authorized to act on behalf of the owner if not the same. The Company’s designated Copyright Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is: Stephen Mart, 18711 Tiffeni Drive, #17-134-ARR, Twain Harte, California. For clarity, only DMCA notices should go to the Copyright Agent; any other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications should be directed to the Company whose contact page and information is http://www.petgroomer.com/contact.htm. The copyright claim owner(s) acknowledge that if they fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section 5(D), your DMCA notice may not be valid.

B. Counter-Notice. If you believe that Content removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or pursuant to the law, to post and use the content in your User Submission, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to the Copyright Agent:

Your physical or electronic signature;
Identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
A statement by you stating a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of a federal court in Nevada, and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement. If a counter-notice is received by the Copyright Agent, the Company may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed Content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at the Company’s sole discretion.

9. Warranty Disclaimer
YOU AGREE THE USE OF YOUR BLOG AT GROOMWISE.COM SHALL BE AT YOUR RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COMPANY, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE AND YOUR USE THEREOF. THE COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS GROOMWISE.COM CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED TO THIS SITE AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEBSITE AND YOUR BLOG, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEBSITE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEBSITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE GROOMWISE.COM WEBSITE. THE COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY THROUGH THE GROOMWISE.COM OR PETGROOMER.COM WEBSITES OR ANY HYPERLINKED WEBSITE OR FEATURED IN ANY BANNER OR OTHER ADVERTISING, AND THE COMPANY WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. AS WITH THE PURCHASE OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE THROUGH ANY MEDIUM OR IN ANY ENVIRONMENT, YOU SHOULD USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT AND EXERCISE CAUTION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

10. Limitation of Liability
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, ADVERTISERS, ASSOCIATES OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE GROOMWISE.COM WEBSITE AND YOUR BLOG, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEBSITE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEBSITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE GROOMWISE AND PETGROOMER.COM WEBSITES, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW IN THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION. YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE COMPANY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR CONTENT OR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY AND THAT THE RISK OF HARM OR DAMAGE FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.

GroomWise.com and other PetGroomer.com Websites are controlled and offered by the Company from its facilities in the United States of America. The Company makes no representations that these Websites are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use these Websites from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law.

11. Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company, its parent corporation, officers, directors, employees and agents, advertisers and associates from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees) arising from: (i) your use of and access to the GroomWise.com and your blog;
(ii) Your violation of any term of these Terms of Service; (iii) your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any claim that any of your Content caused damage to a third party. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive these Terms of Service and your use of the GroomWise.com Website and your Blog.

12. Ability to Accept Terms of Service
You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in these Terms of Service, and to abide by and comply with these Terms of Service.

13. Assignment
These Terms of Service, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by you, but may be assigned by the Company without restriction.

14. General
You agree that: (i) the GroomWise.com Website shall be deemed solely based in Washington by the Company, a Nevada Corporation; and (ii) the Company Websites including GroomWise.com shall be deemed a passive website that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over the Company, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than Washington and Nevada. The Company is a Nevada organization operating in the State of Washington and these Terms of Service shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of Nevada, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. Any claim or dispute between you and the Company that arises in whole or in part from the Company Websites shall be decided exclusively by a court of competent jurisdiction located in Nevada. These Terms of Service, together with the Privacy Notice at http://www.petgroomer.com/mission.htm and any other legal notices published by the Company at GroomWise.com, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company.

If any provision of these Terms of Service is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Service, which shall remain in full force and effect. No waiver of any term of this these Terms of Service shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and the Company's failure to assert any right or provision under these Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. The Company reserves the right to amend these Terms of Service at any time and without notice, and it is your responsibility to review these Terms of Service for any changes. Your use of the GroomWise.com and Company Websites and/or assigned blog following any amendment of these Terms of Service will signify your assent to and acceptance of its revised terms. YOU AND THE COMPANY AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE GROOMWISE.COM WEBSITE MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.